‘Thy Brother’s Keeper’: Witnessing as a Moral Presence in Group Analysis and Beyond. A Response to Farhad Dalal’s Foulkes Lecture

Abstract

This article argues that witnessing is a stance of ‘being there’ as a lived, mindful presence that defines one’s human capacity to create a bond of mutual concern with an ‘other’. It is a vital constituent in the process of therapy and beyond. Witnessing is a commitment to acknowledge ‘real reality’ as well as one’s subjectivity; it is an essential part of mutual recognition, since it involves one’s responsibility to tell the truth and a readiness to face it; as such, witnessing is inherently moral. This article emphasizes the idea that witnessing is a matter of personal choice. The decision to speak out and ‘tell it’ in the group arena has a redeeming quality; it can break up the deadening silence of isolation, loneliness and suffering caused by wounding relationships.